The Open Door
by Inmate XIV
Summary: All six of them have lost the person closest to them in life, that was their problem. The one thing they had in common, the only thing that made them alike with each other, yet so many other different things made them so much more unalike. DestinyCrusader's Recovery Challenge.
1. Arrival

**This story contains material some readers might be uncomfortable with. Just a warning. It is rated M for a reason. (Really, it might be strictly T, but there are going to be a few moments that are rather...not so T.)**

**Genres : Angst, hurt/comfort, slight romance, friendship, family. **

**Disclaimer : "Silver doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. She owns her flash drive, a notebook, and her ideas. She doesn't even own the computer she's typing this into."**

**Review if you like! ^-^**

**- Silver Dawn **

* * *

"Finally," Xion Farron's foster mother, Lightning, breathed from the front seat. She ran a hand through her long, pink hair, which was usually put up but for some reason was let down today. She looked to the back seat where Xion sat, shifting uncomfortably. "We're here."

Xion nodded. She unbuckled her belt and put her hand on the door handle. Hesitating for a split moment, she opened it. The sound of thunder boomed somewhere in the background. Xion sighed. She hated weather like this. Seven months ago, she would have loved it. The thunder and lightning would have calmed her, because even during stressful times rain was nice…

"Don't just leave the door open!" Lightning scolded over the thunder. The younger girl flinched and stood up out of the car, waved goodbye to her mother. "I'll be back later to pick you up. Got your cell phone? Good. Call me when you guys are done in there." She reached over to start the car, but looked back with another heavy sigh. "Will you try and cooperate in there? I'd like to see a little bit of an improvement in your attitude when you come out."

Again, the girl nodded and gave a small smile as a goodbye. Rain began to fall in small droplets over head of her. She thought they would have started earlier, but they waited until now to do so. She shut the back seat door and pulled her hood over her short black hair. The wind threatened to blow it back down, so she held onto it because she didn't want her hair wet. Xion hated when her hair was wet and she was in front of people. It made her feel like a wet dog, even if she didn't smell like one.

She made her way up the concrete sidewalk and to the large white building, she wasn't really sure yet what it was called, but she pulled the door open anyway as the rain began falling heavier. A shiver ran through her as she stepped into the air conditioned hallway. Why they would air condition this place when it was only going to get colder outside, Xion would never really understand. It wasn't very warm to begin with. The day had been dark and dreary all through the car ride down here.

Three hours. Xion and her mother had been traveling in the car for three hours, without a word shared. Neither of them had tried to even start a conversation. Once, Xion's foster father Noctis had called to see where they were, and Lightning got a call from her work. There, she was referred to as 'Claire'. That might have been her real name, but Xion had grown up calling her Lightning. Calling her Claire just felt too…formal. And really, she didn't want to be formal around the people that she lived with. There was no real point to it.

_Room five, second floor._ Xion reminded herself. She swallowed and made her way up a flight of stairs, and entered a much warmer hallway. The color of the walls here had changed, from blinding white to a comforting, welcoming yellow. Was every floor in this building a different color? Maybe. Xion didn't feel like finding out. She let her hood fall back onto her shoulders, and ran a hand over her hair to smooth it down a little. She thought for a moment, it might be nice to just take her jacket off.

No. She wasn't that comfortable with this place. She hadn't even seen anyone in this place yet, it was almost like it was deserted. Correct that, she could hear voices, so it was almost like she was in an abandoned building, hearing ghosts. Ugh. That would be creepy.

The first door she encountered was number four, but no one was in there. It looked like it hadn't been used for years. The next room was five. It only had seven people inside of it, a few in a group and the others off by themselves. There was one girl standing at a white board, writing something in green marker. Her hair was long and brown, held in pig tails. Her skin was clear and pale. She wore a orange sweater and khakis, and for some reason, she was barefoot.

Xion suspected that the sandals next to the door belonged to her.

The girl turned toward the door, maybe she heard Xion walk in. Whatever it was, she smiled anyway. "Hello. Are you here for the group meeting?"

Xion bit her lip and gave a slight nod, taking another step into the room. No one else had noticed her yet, just this one woman. She had to be at least twenty or so. She seemed nice, though.

The woman walked over to her and smiled brighter. "My name is Olette. I'm the one who leads the group session every meeting. We're about to start. Why don't you pull up a chair and sit down. I'll get everyone else settled down."

Olette walked away and back to the board, where she finished writing what she had been. Xion picked up a chair that was leaning against the wall. She brought it over to the circle and began spacing the two chairs around her out a little better. Olette clapped her hands and called that it was time to start. Xion sat down and glanced at the clock. It was five thirty. She had two more hours in this place. She coiled a finger under one of the hand bands on her arm, pulled it, and snapped it against her skin.

It was a nervous habit she had had since she was twelve…

"Quiet down," Olette clapped again, a little louder this time. She flashed another one of her gentle smiles. Xion looked down at her feet. Then glanced at both people next to her. The one on her left was a girl. Her hair was cherry red and shiny, her eyes were clear blue. She was skinny, maybe a little too skinny, and her skin was slightly tanned. The person on her right was a boy, with paler skin than the girl's. His hair was spikey and blond, his eyes were also blue, but a few shades darker than the girl's. He didn't look up.

"Hello everyone." Olette sat down in one of the chairs and folded her hands. "Kind of a gloomy day today, isn't it?" It was obviously supposed to be a rhetorical question, but a few people let out a grumble, and others let out a "Yes". Xion didn't say anything.

Olette glanced over to Xion, motioned to her. "We have someone new today, so it would be nice if we all could introduce ourselves, and give a little bit of information along with that. So, who would like to start?"

The girl next to Xion let her hand shoot up. Olette nodded to her. The girl smiled. "My name is Kairi Obata. I'm sixteen, and I'm from Destiny Islands," she suddenly paused, and swallowed. Then continued. "I used to have anorexia. But I'm starting to recover from it...it's a struggle though." Kairi looked Xion in the eye, and smiled again. "Welcome to the group."

"Very good Kairi," Olette praised. She looked at the boy next to Kairi. "Would you like to go next, Zexion?"

The boy next to Kairi shrugged. His hair was silver, with hints of blue in it. His visible eye was his left one, and it was light blue. "My name is Zexion Yamamoto. I'm eighteen…and I come from Radiant Garden…"

Then came the girl next to Zexion, who had short blue hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful, everything about her seemed to be right. "My name is Aqua Nakayama. I'm going to be turning nineteen on Sunday." Someone, Xion wasn't sure who, muttered "Happy birthday." Aqua smiled. "I'm from Radiant Garden also."

"My name is Riku Sasaki," the boy between Aqua and Olette said. His hair was shoulder length and silver. His eyes were turquoise, Xion liked the color. "I'm also from Destiny Islands. I'm seventeen. I've known Kairi over there most of my life." he glanced over to her. She nodded, encouraging him. "…That's all." He looked over at Olette. "You wanna tell us your story, too?"

She laughed. "No thank you. You all already know me. I'm Olette Yano." She held up her hand, showing off a sapphire ring. "I'm happily married. That's all I really know to tell you." Olette looked at the boy next to Xion. His head was still down, staring at the carpet flooring. "Roxas…it's your turn."

The boy turned paler, if possible. He sat up a little straighter. "My name is Roxas Strife…I'm fifteen. I'm the youngest. I came from Twilight Town. I'm still kinda new here…"

Olette put a hand on his back, patting it. "That's good. You did good." She sat up straight again and tucked a ponytail behind her ear. "So Xion…would you like to give us a little bit of information too?"

Her lips parted, and she really considered saying no. It seemed too mean, so instead she just nodded and pressed her lips together, then let out a breath and began. "My name is Xion Farron. I'm adopted. I'm fifteen too…and I was born in Twilight Town, but I grew up in Traverse Town."

"Welcome to the group, Xion," Olette said. Xion shut her mouth again. She hated talking about her life. She hated talking in general, as of recently. It was just…hard.

Olette crossed her legs and folded her hands back in her lap again. "Would anyone like to tell me why we're all here."

"We all lost someone close to us," Riku said immediately, as if he had been here for a long time and had gone through this many times. He seemed to be bored, looking over at Kairi every now and again. That didn't really surprise Xion much. He did say they had been friends since they were little.

"Would anyone like to share their story first?" Olette asked. "Xion should know what's happened in our pasts…and we've never really opened up to each other with that."

For a moment, every seemed to stay silent, stay still. Xion refused to raise her hand. She didn't like how everyone had looked at her before. Maybe she could go last, or second to last.

Then, a hand was raised. Everyone looked over. It was Aqua. "If it makes Xion more comfortable with us, then I'll get us started."


	2. Aqua - What Hurts The Most

**Aqua**

_**~What Hurts The Most~**_

* * *

"Aqua," A soft voice roused her. She smiled, longing to bury herself deeper into the pillows and snuggle into the blankets. Like when she was a little kid. "Aqua, it's time to get up."

"Five more minutes," she grumbled. Terra laughed and poked her on the nose. Aqua giggled in return, and opened her eyes. Terra leaned over her, dressed in a short sleeved brown shirt with some short of band logo on it, and blue jeans. She needed to get ready for work, which was why Terra was waking her up. He stopped by every morning to do this, on the week days at least. Weekends he spent the night.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," Terra greeted, kissing her on top of the head. "You overslept, you know. It's almost ten thirty. You wouldn't wake up for anything this morning. I suppose you had a good dream." Aqua looked over at the clock. Sure enough,. Terra wasn't lying. It was ten twenty eight.

"Shoot!" She jumped from the bed, almost hitting Terra in the process. "I'm already late for work!"

"I know that," Terra watched in amusement as she grabbed a blue shirt and a pair of white jeans. She hurried to the bathroom and pushed the door shut. It didn't shut all the way, though. Aqua didn't care. It was only Terra here with her, and they were due to get married in a month, so it didn't matter if he walked into the bathroom with her or not.

"I'm making you late for work too, aren't I?" She asked, peeking her head through the door.

He looked over at her and shook his head, smiling. "Nah. I'll just miss my ride. But I can take a taxi down. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?' Aqua pulled the shirt over her and began brushing through her hair. "I can give you money for the taxi…it's my fault that you missed your ride anyway."

"Don't worry about it," Terra insisted. "It won't be that much money. I mean, it's only a half hour or so. I think I've got enough money to cover it." He took out his billfold from his back pocket and began counting money. Aqua pulled on her pants and picked up her toothbrush. "Yeah, I should have enough. Like I said, don't worry about it."

"Okay." She spit out the toothpaste and foam that had cleansed her teeth moments ago. Aqua quickly slipping on a pair of sandals and searched for her purse, found it, and slung it onto her shoulder.

"You're fast when you're in a hurry," Terra noted, following her out of the apartment. He shut the door and locked it for her.

"Yeah, because my boss is going to kill me for being late," she said over her shoulder. She met Terra at the doorway that led out of the apartment, giving him and hug and a quick kiss. "I'll see you tonight. Remember, we gotta pick out the dresses for Selphie and Fuu." She smiled at the thought of the two little girls, both only at the age of four. Selphie was happy and outgoing and bubbly…while Fuu was the exact opposite. Yet they were always found playing with each other.

"I'll see you later." He kissed her back and held the door for her as she walked out. They both went in separate directions, and didn't look back at each other. Aqua realized a little ways down the street she forgot to tell him she loved him. Whatever. She could make up for it tonight. It would be all right…

She told herself this all the way down the road, and still never looked back. Aqua just didn't have the time. She repeated her promise to herself in her head, biting her nails whenever she got the chance, when people at the salon weren't staring at her and wondering what she was thinking, or when she didn't have anyone at her station. One of her coworkers asked if she was okay. Aqua had replied yes, and the coworker had smiled and said, "Just nervous about getting married next month, huh? It's coming on fast. My invitation hasn't come in the mail yet." Which didn't seem right, because Aqua didn't even know this woman. She was new.

Lunch break finally came. Aqua decided that it might be best to call Terra then and there, and see how work was going so far. Then she could tell him she loved him. But Terra didn't answer. He didn't answer when she called, he didn't answer when she texted him. Acting on her impulse, she then called Lea to see if Terra had just fallen asleep during break time or something, like he sometimes did.

Yet, Lea didn't answer either.

Finally, someone called Aqua, but it wasn't from Lea or Terra. It was from Eraqus, an old family friend of both Terra and Aqua.

"Hello?" Aqua answered, slightly confused to why he would be calling her during work, even if it was her lunch break.

"_Aqua, where are you?" _His voice came in scratchy on the other end, as if he had swallowed barb wire or something like that. That was when Aqua became concerned.

"At work…" she said, still slightly confused.

"_Stay right there. I'm coming to pick you up." _Without further explanation, he hung up, leaving her to wonder what exactly was happening. Aqua began biting her nails again. Before this, they had been filed neatly and perfect, painted light blue. Luckily, Larxene had taken a day off because she was sick, so Aqua hadn't gotten in trouble when she walked in this morning. She wouldn't get into much trouble for leaving as long as she had a good reason for it in the end.

Aqua hung up her apron in the break room and walked out front. Moments after this, Eraqus pulled up in his old beat up car. Aqua always smiled at the sight of it. She had shared so many memories in that car with him, and Terra and so many others.

Aqua climbed into the front seat of the car without a word. Eraqus drove slowly out of the parking lot and onto the road. Swallowing, Aqua worked up the courage to ask him one question. "Eraqus, what's going on?"

The older man took a moment to answer. It didn't take long before Aqua noticed that his eyes were red and the skin around them seemed to be irritated. "…Eraqus?"

"They didn't call you, I assume?" He asked. Call her? About what? Aqua shook her head. What was Eraqus trying to get out?

Eraqus pulled into a vacant parking lot and parked the car, rubbing his eyes. "I thought for sure that they would have called you. You were his fiancée, after all. I don't see how they could have overlooked you. That's the one thing I truly hate about hospitals."

"What do you mean?" Aqua asked once more. Her chest was starting to tighten. Terra was okay…Terra had to be okay.

Eraqus looked at her, straight in the eye, and sighed. "Aqua…this morning…Terra was in an accident. He was hit by a car…crossing the street. He died on the scene…the doctors said that the trauma killed him immediately. He's not in any pain anymore."

The news took a moment to sink in. Aqua's fiancé, her beloved, the one that was supposed to be her husband in a month…was dead.

"Ugh…" she sank forward, her head in her hands. Her stomach threatened to vomit, to let loose everything inside of her. Everything was knotted up. For a moment she didn't even realize that she was crying. The crying was the least of her pain. Her heart ached greatly.

"Aqua…" Eraqus reached over, holding her in his arms in less than a moment. He was grieving just as badly as she was. Yet she was taking it even harder than he had. Of course, the blow was probably harder. "I'm sorry Aqua. I'll help you through this time. Everyone will."

Aqua looked up, looked up the window. "I have to cancel everything…Terra is dead…does everyone else know?"

"No," Eraqus said. "Not all of the family has been informed. I can help you call everyone, if you want…"

"Have to call everyone and tell them Terra's dead," she echoed. Without another word, Aqua pulled out her cell phone, and began to make calls.

…

_**Two Weeks Later**_

"She hasn't come to work the last couple weeks. She's about to lose her job," Larxene spat. She took another drag on her cigarette and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know she just lost her husband, or whatever he was, but I still need her to keep her appointments. A lot of her customers are pissed off at her."

"_She's probably just going through a phase or something. One of those grieving processes." _Aerith replied, her voice coming in slightly crackly on the other end of the phone. _"You know, right now she's probably denying that he's really gone. She might think that he's really coming back, still." _

"That's a load of bull shit," snapped Larxene. "She needs to snap out of it and get out of her apartment for once, quit being such a recluse, that's what they're going to end up calling her, you know. She needs to get off her ass and come back to work. If she doesn't show up on Wednesday, I'm firing her."

Aerith sighed. _"Give her a chance, Larxene. If you give me Aqua's number, I can hook her up with someone that can help. I know someone that can help her through this process." _

"Okay, as long as I get my employee back. I'll text it to you. Talk to you later, Aerith." Larxene dropped the cigarette onto the ground and stomped on it. "My break's over. Bye."

…

And moments later, Aqua's phone rang.

…

_**Present Day**_

"That's basically how I got here," Aqua finished, her voice beginning to crack. Xion snapped another hair band against her wrist. This beautiful, young woman lost the one she loved most. Her fiancé.

"Thank you, Aqua," Olette said with another one of her signature smiles. Aqua nodded, rubbing one of her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. She said nothing, but held her head high and didn't cry.

Xion admired her for being so strong.

"Who wants to go next?" Olette asked. No one raised their hand. Olette sighed. "Please don't make me choose. It's easy, right Aqua?"

"It was nice to get it over with, honestly," the bluenette replied, her voice dripping with fake happiness.

Zexion sighed and raised his hand. "I'll get it over with, then."

* * *

**Thanks to **_**OmegaStarShooter14,**__**Emo Unfaltering**_**, and **_**Princess-Xion**_** for reviewing! **

**Thanks to **_**Emmausgirl94**_** and **_**Jgodinkitty**_** for the favorite!**

**Thanks to **_**ImVen**_**, **_**Emmausgirl94**_**, and **_**Jgodinkitty**_** for alerting!**

_**Responses : **_

_**OmegaSatarShooter14 : **_I couldn't help but do it. XD I saw it and fell in love with the challenge.

_**Emo Unfaltering : **_Thank you!

_**Princess-Xion : **_I did phrase that sentence a little strangely, but I have gone back and changed the wording of it. I do know a lot about anorexia, actually, because I've both experienced it for myself and I have a friend that's starting to recover from it. So, I'm sorry if that offended you or pissed you off or something, but I did change it. Thanks for the review. :)

Please review! :D

- Silver Dawn


	3. Zexion - How You Remind Me

**Zexion **

_**~How You Remind Me~**_

* * *

"Zexy!" The familiar pet name was what he recognized first. Then Demyx's familiar voice called out. He attacked Zexion from behind, squeezing him tightly in a hug. "It's been so long!"

"D-Demyx?!" The younger boy is surprised to be hearing this voice, seeing him too. The blond had been in the hospital for the past two months, he missed most of the last semester and had to be excused from all the work. Zexion turned to face him. Demyx was skinnier and much scrawnier than he had been before. He was wearing a beanie over his head. Small tufts of hair was sticky out from the hat, but other spots were shinier- balder.

"You're finally back in school…" Zexion said, returning to his normally calm self. He tucked a book under his arm and put another back into his locker. "It really has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. I think I'd rather be here than be in a hospital bed again," Demyx joked. Zexion, though, hated it when he did this. It wasn't funny that he was dying. Of course, Zexion was also happy that Demyx was here at school, and not in the hospital bed. He hated seeing his best friend hooked up with cords and needles going in his veins and keeping him alive…but now he was well enough to come to school.

"Are they going to let you wear that hat in the classrooms?" Zexion felt the need to change the subject. "It has to do with respect, or something. They're not going to make you take it off, are they?"

Demyx shook his head. "My mom had a talk with them. She said that they would let me as long as I wasn't bragging about it to everyone else." He scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, why would I? Do I really seem like that kind of a person?"

"No, Demyx, you don't." Zexion shut his locker and opened one of the books in his hand. He had forgotten to read the rest of it for language arts. Luckily, he didn't have that class until the last period of the day. Demyx shared that class with him. "Hey, did you finish this?" He held up the book.

The blond's eyes widened. "Aw man! No! Um…can you help me with the packet?" He pulled his backpack off and began digging through in in frustration. "I completely forgot!"

"You've at least got an excuse. I don't," Zexion huffed. The five minute bell had yet to ring, he knew he was going to be able to help Demyx with the packet. Except the last chapter. Maybe later after he finished the book he could help Demyx with it in study hall. Sadly the last chapter seemed to be the longest.

"Found it!" Demyx said happily, holding the packet out. Zexion took it, held it against the wall, starting filing out the answers. "Wow, you're fast. What do you do, memorize the answers?"

"Sometimes," Zexion answered honestly. "But not this time. I just happen to remember them. This is actually easy them people say it is."

He giggled. "It is for you, of course. Because you're smarter than the rest of us are, you know."

Zexion nodded. "Yeah. I know." He folded the packet back and handed it to Demyx. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" Demyx said, his smile bright. Zexion couldn't help but give a small smile back, Demyx just made him happy in times like this. His smile made everyone else smile. If he was happy, he could make everyone else happy. If he was sad, then someone else was sad. Usually, this someone was Zexion. He cared for Demyx like a brother, maybe more than that, but he cared about him a lot.

The bell rang. Demyx struggled to get the packet back into his backpack without having to stopped walking. Zexion took the packet and opened the back pocket, put it in, and zipped it up. Demyx thanked him, and both headed off to first period.

Maybe Zexion should have been more concerned about Demyx. Asked him what the doctors had said about him coming school in the first place. As the school day went by, Zexion saw Demyx getting paler and paler. They sat together at lunch, where Zexion had to express his feelings before they killed him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, as they sat down alone at the end of one of the longer tables.

Demyx looked up at him as he was opening his bottled water. He tilted his head, as if he didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

Zexion pointed to his own face. "You're really pale. You're okay, right?"

Demyx nodded. "Of course. I feel fine." He looked up at Zexion, mouth full of French fries, and reassured him again. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Zexion said. He opened his chip and began eating them. And while passed, he was busy reading the rest of the last chapter of his book, when he heard the chair across from him squeak. He looked toward Demyx, but he wasn't even there. In a distance, he was running away, toward the bathroom. He had barely eaten any of his food, maybe parts of his cookie (Demyx always ate his cookies before anything else.) but that was it.

Zexion picked up his tray and threw his food away, took it up to the lunch ladies who would wash it. He left Demyx's food in case he wanted more. Maybe Demyx just needed to use the bathroom really fast. Zexion could only hope that, of course he knew that it was probably something more than that.

He found Demyx hunched over one of the toilets in the boy's bathroom. He hadn't bothered to lock the stall door, not that Zexion really minded. He felt bad that he had badgered Demyx about feeling sick or anything, even though it was to express his worry.

"Demyx…" Zexion said, trying to get his attention. Yet, Demyx was still over the toilet, throwing up the rest of the food that was left inside his stomach. When it was all over, he reached over, his hand trembling, and flushed the stuff down the toilet. "You're not good…I think you need to go home."

"No!" Demyx said, standing up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He walked to the sink and began washing his hands. "I-it just comes back up sometimes. I'm not holding food down as well as I used to. Other than that I'm okay."

"Liar," the other boy said. He took a step closer. Demyx's tone of voice gave everything away. And of course, the way he was shaking. "You need to go home don't you?"

Demyx wasn't going to argue about it. That was another thing that was obvious. Maybe he just didn't feel like it or maybe he didn't have a good enough come back, but nothing left his mouth. Zexion took his wrist, pulled him out of the bathroom and down the hallway to the nurse's office. It seemed like on sight the nurse knew to call the blond boy's parents. They were there in minutes. Or at least, his mother was.

"Demyx!" she exclaimed. She walked to her son, who was sitting next to Zexion on one of the beds. She put both of her hands on Demyx's face, touching his cheeks. "You weren't supposed to go to school today! You knew that…"

"S-sorry," he said. "I just wanted to see all my friends one more time. I was going to come home if I didn't feel good, Mom. Zexion brought me to the nurse's office. I threw up at lunch. I was going to come home right after school if I felt fine."

"You knew you weren't going to," she whispered. "Demyx, the doctors said to bring you home so you could spent time with _me._ Not anyone else. He said you wouldn't have more than a few days…"

Zexion couldn't help but be shocked by the news. His best friend was going to die soon? This soon? He thought that he was going to have more time left.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Zexion asked, his voice cracking.

Demyx looked at him. "I didn't want you to be sad."

"What, was I supposed to find out after you were dead?" Zexion snapped. He stood up. "I would have been way sadder then. I would have felt so guilty I probably wouldn't have been able to go on living! Damn it, Demyx!"

"Don't yell at him!" Demyx's mother snarled. She held Demyx close, protectively. "You might be angry about it Zexion, but do not yell at my son!"

"Zexion," the nurse said, more calmly. "I think you need to leave."

Without further hesitation, Zexion did as she suggested. He didn't care that Demyx's mother had yelled at him. He cared only that his best friend was going to die. Any day now.

…

_**Three Hours Later**_

If he had known that Demyx was going to be dead in two hours, he might have hugged him. Said goodbye in a more appropriate manner. He wouldn't have gotten so angry. That all happened back in December. Now it was summer, and he still hadn't gotten any better. He would spent days in his room without coming out to do anything but to use the bathroom. He didn't talk to anyone, didn't look at anyone.

There finally came a day when Zexion's father opened the door and sat down on the bed next to Zexion, slowly and calmly told him that they were going to take him to a group that could probably help him. They were going to cure him of his depression.

And Zexion didn't bother to even argue. The decision was already made.

…

_**Present Day **_

Zexion didn't lose his poise. He sat completely still after telling his story. His eyes were locked at the window across the room, behind Olette.

"Thank you Zexion," she said. He didn't say anything. Xion thought that he might have rolled his eyes, but she wasn't quite sure about this one. "Who would like to go next?"

Xion knew that it was going to be best to just get her story over with right there, but before she could raise her hand, Kairi's shot up.

"I'll do it," she said, letting her hand drop. "Riku and I will tell ours together." Riku eyed her again from the other side of the room, but she only nodded determinedly.

* * *

_**Omega Star Shooter 14 : Yeah, I might too. Especially if I loved him a lot. D;**_


	4. Riku and Kairi : Innocence

**Riku and Kairi **

_**~Innocence~**_

* * *

"Guys! Wait for me!" Sora's cry was desperate, and barely audible over the heavy rain. Both Kairi and Riku stopped, watching as the brunette ran as fast as he could to them. Both stood under an umbrella, held by Riku, so they were fine with stopping. If they hadn't had that umbrella, they probably would have waved goodbye and ran off without Sora.

"Thanks," Sora said, as soon as he caught up with them. He threw his arms behind his head. Kairi giggled. "Hey, by the way, when are we going to go on that date you owe me?"

The cherry haired girl rolled her eyes playfully. "I was kidding about that! Besides, you know I'm not interested in younger men." She patted Sora on the head. He was three months younger than him. It was just her excuse for not wanting to date him, though. "Sorry sweetie."

Sora pouted. The three of them, Kairi, Sora, and Riku, had been friends since they were in elementary school. Riku was in third grade, Kairi in second, and Sora in first. They had met outside on the playground on field day, and they had all stuck together since. Now here they were, Riku a junior, Kairi and Sora were finally sophomores and didn't have to be teased for being freshmen anymore.

"Got your hopes up again, aye Sora?" Riku joked. He nudged the smaller boy with his elbow. Sora glared at him. He smiled, and grabbed at the umbrella. Riku pulled away, causing Sora and Kairi to be pelted with rain.

"Riku!" Sora and Kairi both scolded.

"Sorry!" he said, putting the umbrella back in position. "One of you hold this thing for a while. I'm getting tired." Sora raised his hand. "…never mind. I'll hold it a little longer. Sora, you're too short. I'll get wet if you hold it."

"Hey!"

"Who's house are we going to today?" Kairi interrupted, before the two could get into another one of their "brotherly fights". That's what Kairi's mom called it at least. Since they were so close, they started fighting over the pettiest of things, fought over girls. They had fought over Kairi once or twice, and Kairi had made peace with them, clearing it up that she would never love either of her best friends like that. Sibling like love was a different thing, though.

Riku stopped to think. "Hm…my parents are home, and my mom doesn't feel very well, so she doesn't want to hear us laughing and talking and screaming like we do. So my house is out of the question."

"My parents are home, but we're renovating the kitchen. So they don't want anyone coming over until that's done." Kairi counted out on her finger how many more weeks there would be until that was done. "We won't be done for at least three more weeks…so it's one of you guys houses until we get that done. Sorry."

Both of the older teens looked at Sora. He jumped, but then relaxed as he knew what was going on, and lifted a finger to touch his cheek. "Um…I think we're free. We can play with the X-box in my room or something. My Dad's home but Mom's still at work. We won't be doing anything for a while now, I don't think."

"Awesome. Then let's keep going the way we're going and we'll be there in no time," Kairi said. She held her hand out in front of the umbrella. "Rain's starting to die down. Thank god. Standing under here with you guys makes me claustrophobic."

"It's better than standing under an umbrella with Tidus and Wakka." Riku shuddered. "Trust me. You don't want to be in close situations with them."

"Thank you for the information," Kairi said. She didn't want to even start to imagine what Riku had meant by that. No sir. Of course Sora had to question on to why he didn't want to be in a close situation with Tidus and Wakka. Kairi decided to tune everything the other two boys said out so she wouldn't have to hear it.

"Why don't you want to be under an umbrella with Tidus and Wakka?" Sora asked bluntly. Riku gave him a look then looked away so he could roll his eyes. It was probably best that no one answered.

"Let's just say…" Riku began. "That since Kairi is a girl, she really just doesn't want to be with them. Need I say anything else?"

Sora didn't respond for a moment. Then his eyes got wide. "Oh! I think I get it now!" He fumbled to pick up his key and unlock the door once they were at the house. Riku put the umbrella down before going inside the house. (Sora insists; he believes it'll bring bad luck.)

"Oh, hi guys!" Zack, Sora's dad said. He gave all three a smile and put the envelopes he was carrying down on the kitchen counter. "How was school today?"

"Good," All three answered, with their usual happy tone. This was what they usually said when Zack was around. Even if it wasn't the truth. Zack was one of those people who would help out his son's friends if they said something was wrong. Most parents would just let it slide. But not Zack. He was too nice and considerate sometimes. Sora said that his mom called Zack a 'Puppy' sometimes. But that was only for fun.

"Any one want anything to eat?" Sora called. He crossed from the living room into the kitchen and started opening cabinets. "Or anything to drink?" Zak said something to him about not eating a lot so he didn't spoil his appetite for dinner, and walked out.

"No thanks," Kairi answered. She sat down on the couch and began searching through her bag. "Not hungry, not thirsty. Hey Riku, can you help me with my math homework?"

"I'll just do it for you," Riku said, reaching for the pencil that was sitting on the table. "Give me your paper."

"Do you want anything Riku?' Sora asked.

"Yeah. Can I have a Coke?"

"Yep!" Sora walked to the fridge and pulled one of the pops out.

"Kay," Kairi continued. She handed over the math paper, Riku got down onto the floor so he could sit in front of the coffee table.

Riku looked back at her and smirked. Kairi tilted her head, confused by the sudden look. "What?"

"You owe me for this," he pointed out. "What are you willing to do?"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Next to nothing." To show her appreciation, she put her feet up on Riku's back. "You suck at being a foot rest. Straighten out."

"Hey! Get off of me!" Riku shook her off. She giggled.

Sora walked over and handed Riku the pop. "Why don't you guys just do it when you get home, or in study hall?" Both Riku and Kairi glared at him, their faces reading that they just didn't want to. Sora shook his head. "You guys are so lazy when it comes to homework."

Kairi shrugged. "You usually are too. What happened to make you such a try hard? Before you usually didn't give a crap about getting it done. You used to copy off of me all the time."

Sora grimaced, as if reliving a terrible memory. "I know. But my dad saw my report card afterwards and saw that I didn't do very good. I think I got a D in math. He said that if I didn't pull my grades up this quarter I was going to be grounded all summer. I wouldn't be able to go to the beach with you guys at all. Or go to the amusement park. So I have to study and get As and Bs this quarter."

Riku laughed. "Well geez Kairi, if you got Sora to get a D then you must not be a good person to copy from!"

Kairi nudged him in the side with one of her bony elbows. "Shut up, you! He got a D because I wasn't in that class with him. Asshole." She turned to Sora and smiled. "Isn't that right, Sora?"

"Basically," he agreed, looking down to find the blush on his face. But it was clear to both Kairi and Riku. Yet, they moved on anyway.

"I want five dollars for this," Riku said, still trying to make a deal with Kairi.

She shook her head. "Nope. How about I give you nothing?"

"You should-" Sora stopped, interrupted by beeping in his pocket. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and his eyes widened. "Um…"

"What is it Sora?" Riku asked. "You look really pale all of the sudden."

"Um…" he adjusted the collar of his shirt, nervously. "I'm sorry guys. But I have to go. You guys can stay here if you want, but I have to leave."

The other two exchanged a confused look. Sora was acting out of character. He was never like. Ever.

"Okay," Kairi finally answered, with a slight nod. She was still very, very confused, but that wasn't going to hold her back from letting him go where he needed to go. "Sora…is something wrong?"

He stopped at the door, his hand on the doorknob. He swallowed, and look at them again. "I really don't know. But I'll be back soon. Hopefully. See you guys at school if I don't see you tonight!" He flashed a smile, raised a hand to wave, and disappeared out the door.

Riku looked down and picked up his Coke. "He left before I even finished this…"

Kairi took her math paper from him, shoved it into her bag. "I don't want to sit here and wait for him to come back. I want to go home."

He gave her a strange look. "Are we all in this mysterious, secretive mood today or something? Are you and Sora hiding something from me?"

"No," Kairi said. "I have no idea what's going on. But I don't like. And I certainly don't want to be here, without Sora. It doesn't feel right. So, will you walk home with me?"

"Yeah." Riku stood up and moved toward the door, picking up his bag and waiting for Kairi to come. He picked up the umbrella even though it wasn't raining anymore. Riku's mom would scold him if he didn't bring it home.

He left Kairi at her house and departed for his own. Kairi walked inside, said hello to her father and mother, who were on the couch watching some scary movie. She went to her room and tried to finish the homework that Riku had started for her. She followed the work he had drawn on the back of the page, and finally got the hang of the formula. Even though it took her a few hours to finish the whole packet they had given her.

By the end of it all she was worn out. She took a shower and went to bed, finally falling asleep around ten or eleven.

At one in the morning, her cell phone rang. It woke her up almost immediately. She reached over for it, hitting a button and holding it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"_Kairi, this is you right?" _Riku's voice. Why was Riku calling at such a late hour?

"Yes? What's up?"

It took a moment before he replied. This time, his voice was cracking. Not because of the phone either. _"Sora is dead." _

Kairi took a moment to process what he said. Then, she forced out a fake laugh. "No…no he's not. That isn't funny Riku."

The silence on the other end proved that he was playing around. Kairi frowned. "You're…not kidding, are you?"

She could imagine him shaking his head on the other end of the phone. _"No…remember how he left really quickly earlier? He was meeting up with Seifer. Apparently, he owed Seifer money for something. Seifer had something to black mail Sora with…I don't know what it was, but he didn't have the money. Seifer and Rai…they shot Sora. One of them did, I wasn't told who. But Sora's dead…" _

Kairi's breath hitched and she released the tears that had started developing inside pour out. She covered her mouth with her hands and held the phone away from her ear. When she could finally gather herself enough to talk, she brought it back. "You're one hundred percent serious?"

"_Yes." _

…**.**

_**Six Weeks Later. **_

"Damn it, Kairi," Riku muttered as he walked up the pavement of the hospital sidewalk. He sighed. Kairi had tried to act happy, like her chirpy, normal self, but Riku knew on the inside she was still sad. She'd been skipping lunch, and from the few conversations he had had with her parents, she was skipping other meals too. She was out of the house a lot more (Probably exercising, but Riku didn't tell her parents that.)

Now, on a Monday afternoon, he found himself going into a hospital, finding his other best friend on the brink of dying from starvation. He had collapsed during her gum period, saying that she felt light headed, dizzy, and couldn't breathe.

He too was suffering from depression. He had felt nothing but guilt and anger toward himself since Sora died. He wasn't taking things this far, though.

"Hi," said a young nurse at the desk. "Who are you here for?"

"Obata," he answered. She entered the last name into the database, then asked for the first name. "Kairi." Once he got the room number, he walked in that direction, went up an elevator, then into the hospital room.

Kairi looked up at him, when he entered. She was well enough to sit up now, apparently, but he didn't like the look of those needles entering her skinny arms.

He sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her in a hug. She grabbed his back, sobbing into his chest. She kept muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Yet she didn't really have anything to be sorry about. Except that she nearly brought herself to her own death.

He rested his head on top of hers, knowing that there had to be something that could be done. "Don't be, Kai. I'm going to get us both some help. We're going to get out of this. You have nothing to worry about."

…**.**

_**Present Day**_

Kairi crossed her legs confidently after finishing her story finally. She played with a piece of her cherry red hair. Riku, on the other hand, crossed his arms and looked out the window at the rain. As if that was going to resolve everything.

"Thanks, you two," Olette said. Xion looked around the room. Everyone else was indifferent to the story. Like they had heard it a million times. Olette now stared at both Xion and the boy next to her. "Which one of you want to go next?"

"I will," Roxas said immediately. He straightened up, and looked at Xion. It was the first time she had seen his eyes. He gave a small smile. "I want to get it all over with."

* * *

**This chapter is sadly longer than the others…sorry. I tried to make them all of equal length, but that obviously just didn't work well. **

**Thanks to KeytoOblivion for the favorite! **

**Thanks to ZealousZexionZealot for alerting!**

**Emo Unfaltering : It is a bit sad because they were really good characters. D: Thank you, too. ;)**

**KeytoOblivion : Thanks. :D Is that a fan fiction or an actual story? I'd like to read it, because I've never heard of it before. **

**Review please! :D **

**- Silver Dawn **


	5. Roxas - Breaking The Habit

**Roxas**

_**Breaking The Habit**_

_**(Warning : Graphic content in this one. Nothing too bad…but some may be a little uncomfortable with the ending of the chapter.)**_

* * *

When Roxas was seven, his father died in a car accident. Roxas had never fully been the same since, he was diagnosed with depression at age eleven, and had been in over thirty support groups since then. He had just turned thirteen a week ago, and that's when she came into his life. Her name was Namine, she was the younger sister of Yuffie, who was his mother Tifa's friend. She came to his birthday party, only because she was forced to come along though. Roxas didn't have many friends and Yuffie thought that maybe Namine could help him out with that.

She was sitting at the dining table alone, staring absently at the white table clothe (really, it was just a huge sheet of paper; so the kids could draw on it.) Then, she picked up a red crayon and began drawing. Roxas observed her as she did this, but she didn't notice him at all.

When she was done, she put the crayon down and leaned her head against her hand, looking over the drawing like it was a piece of meat, and she was deciding where to cut. Roxas craned his neck to see it. It was a birthday cake, just like the one in front of her. Literally, just like it. The shape, the texture of the icing…everything about it was perfect.

"You're really good at drawing," Roxas said. It just have startled her, because she looked up quickly like she was confused. A long, platinum blonde strand of hair fell into her eyes. _She's really cute_, Roxas thought.

She smiled, looked down and blushed. "Oh…it's not as good as it could be…" she said modestly.

He shook his head. "Still, I like it. You got everything about the cake right." Roxas really was one to give credit where credit was due. People over the years, all the psychiatrists that he had seen, could tell you that. It was a simple fact that anyone could observe. Roxas looked up at the girl and stuck out a hand. "My name is Roxas."

"Roxas," she echoed. She reached over and shook his hand. "My name is Namine. Happy birthday."

"How'd you know that it was my birthday?" he asked, even though there were clearly streamers falling from the ceiling and decorations everywhere. He was only wondering because there was one other kid here, Pence, but who had told her that it was Roxas's birthday and not Pence's?

Namine giggled. "Yuffie told me that it was your birthday. And she pointed to you instead of that other kid over there…" her eyes trailed over to where Pence sat, enjoying a popsicle. And maybe enjoying it a little too much. "Who is he anyway?"

"Oh, that's Pence," Roxas motioned with his hand over to the chubby boy again, who obviously wasn't listening, or just couldn't hear anything at that moment. "I've known him since I was five. I can't really say that we're friends…he's just kinda been there my whole life."

"I see," Namine said. She moved the strand of hair out of her eyes, and flashed an even brighter smile. Roxas blushed harder, there was no use in looking down to try and cover it either. It was plainly clear. Even his mother, who was across the room, could see it. And she was giggling. Roxas scowled.

"How long have you been able to draw like that?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I've always been better at drawing than everyone else…not to brag or anything…so I really don't know. Most of my life, I have to say." She again moved her hair from out of her eyes, where it again fell. "Do you have any talents?"

Roxas again looked down. Namine tilted her head. "What's wrong? You don't?"

"No, I do, it's just…" he swallowed, embarrassed. "I can sing. And…that's a girly talent."

One of Namine's eye brows raised, and she smiled. Roxas was afraid by telling her this, he had blown all chances of her being his friend. Then the next words she spoke made him relax. "Singing isn't that girly. In fact, that's kind of cool. I've never met a guy who can sing. But of course I've heard of them."

At least she thought so. Tifa had always told him that isn't wasn't a girly talent, but of course that was just his mom talking. Not that her opinion didn't matter or anything, but he felt like she was just being a mom and trying to reassure him of things. That was how most moms were…right?

"Namine!" Yuffie called. The blonde beauty turned away. "We gotta go!"

Namine nodded. She turned to Roxas, and, without another word, picked up a crayon from the table, and wrote her number down. "Will you text me tonight?"

"O-of course," Roxas said, with a smile.

Namine froze, and gave a smile back. "You know…you're much cuter with that smile on your face." Roxas felt the blush return to his face as she stood and walked away. She passed a mirror and paused, looking into it and fixing her hair. She turned back to him one more time before exiting the room, and waved.

Roxas knew he was too young to fall in love.

Or, was he?

…

_**Six Months Later**_

Roxas had spent most of these months with Namine by his side. She helped him through his depression, she had made him happier. Everything had changed about Roxas. He really did feel happier. He felt like new person.

It was summer now, and Namine was going to camp. Roxas wanted to go with her, but sadly, there just wasn't enough money for him to go. So he had gone to her house to say goodbye.

"Roxas!" she said happily, when she looked at him after putting another bag into the truck of the car. Her hair was up in a ponytail, strands of hair falling into her face. She was never able to fully get it out of her face. When she pushed one part away, another part would fall right down.

He hugged her, happy to see that she was doing well. Last weekend she had been running a fever. When they parted, she took his hand. "We have ten minutes before I leave. What do you want to do? We can do anything you want."

Roxas smirked. "Anything, huh?"

She hit the side of his head. "Not that, idiot." Nonetheless, she was smiling. She knew he was only joking around. Or at least, she thought that he was joking around.

He thought he was, too. But something inside him made him feel like he _wasn't_ joking at all. He brushed that thought away and looked down at his phone. A moment of silence split between the two of them, before Roxas realized that he only had seven minutes left.

"You excited?" he asked the obvious question with a smile. Of course she was happy, but he figured he would be the one to try and start the conversation. It was usual that way with the both of them, since they were both so quiet.

She flashed a smile and nodded. "Yes, I really am. It's sad that you weren't able to go, it would have been nice to hang out with you there."

"Don't you have friends there from last year?"

"Oh, yeah of course!" she said. "I don't know them very well though, so it just would have been easier to hang with my boyfriend and everything."

Roxas blushed at the word boyfriend. She didn't refer to him as that usually, people usually asked if they were a couple, and Namine would answer with a yes. Then people would respond with the usual, "Aw!" He hated when they did that, though. Because it was embarrassing. Namine said that she didn't mind it, though, and as long as Namine was happy, he was happy. When Namine was sad, he was sad.

He really did love her. Yet, he had never told her this. Never. Not once. It made him feel like a jerk, really but, he wasn't sure how to state it to her.

"Namine!" Yuffie called happily. Namine looked over at the older girl. She was climbing into the front seat, a bottled water in her hand. She pointed to her wrist watch. "Time to go! You don't want to get there late!"

"Right!" Namine hugged Roxas once more, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see ya next Sunday. Tell Tifa I said goodbye and that I hope she had a nice day."

"I will," Roxas said. Namine pulled away and walked over to the other side of the car. A lump developed in Roxas's throat. He felt like he needed to tell the he loved her. He needed to get it out now. Before she left. Something just felt…wrong. "Namine?"

She looked up at him. She was still standing next to the car, passenger door open, wearing a confused look on her face. "Yeah?"

Roxas tried to get what he wanted to say out. Yet, he wasn't able to. Instead he swallowed the lump (it didn't fully go away.) and smiled. "I hope you have a nice time."

Namine nodded. She got into the car and shut the door. Roxas stepped out of the way so that he didn't get run over when Yuffie waved her hand in the mirror for him to move. He waved goodbye as the car pulled out, and then disappeared down the road.

_Such a coward_, he thought to himself. _You couldn't even tell her…_

…_**.**_

_**One week later. **_

The air was thick with heat, Roxas could barely breathe in to catch his breath from the tears that wouldn't stop coming. Tifa wasn't home at the moment, she would be home soon though. If she was home, she would have already forced him out of the bathroom. The water continued to slash in the sink, Roxas watched it from where he sat on the floor.

Namine was dead. Yuffie had gone to pick her up from that camp, and gotten into a car crash. There was a deer in the road and Yuffie hadn't been paying attention. When she looked up, she tried to steer the car out of the way, with success, but something went wrong. The car flipped, and fell down a hill. Yuffie was in the hospital now, Tifa had gone to see how she was doing.

Namine's head had hit the window with such force that it had basically killed her. She still had a pulse when the ambulance arrived. She died on the way to the hospital, even while on all the machines.

He never told her that he loved her.

Roxas dug the knife a little deeper into his wrist. He pulled it out and cut into another part of his flesh. Scarlet rose to the surface, dripping down into the water that he was now standing over. The water turned pink with contact. His hands were shaking. He pulled the knife out, placed it on the counter, and took a step back. He slumped onto the floor, eyelids heavy and beginning to get short of breath.

"Roxas?" Tifa called. He barely heard her over the ringing in his ears, and the water that was still running. The front door slammed. Another door creaked open. It was somewhere close…but Roxas wasn't able to tell how close.

A girl screamed.

Everything turned black.

…

Roxas awoke to a blinding white light. He thought that it was heaven, hell, or something like that. But no, when his eyes adjusted a few moments later he could make out the machines and beeping coming from something.

"What the hell-" he started. He looked around, trying to comprehend what was happening. He tried to sit up a little higher so he could get a better look at everything. He found, though, that there was something pinching his left forearm. He looked down and found something small and silver disappearing beneath a patch of beige. A band-aid. Red was entering beneath the band aid. Blood.

"You're awake!" A familiar voice said, with a pinch of excitement. Roxas flinched. Tifa stood in the doorway, her eyes wide. "Thank god, Roxas."

"What happened…" A better question might have been "How did I get here?"

Tifa's mood changed. She couldn't hide her disgust, obviously. "You tried to kill yourself, Roxas. You fucking tried to kill yourself." She threw herself down into a chair and rested her head in her hands. "My little boy…why would you do something like this?"

Roxas didn't reply to that question. Instead, he looked up, at the bag of blood hanging above him. "Who's is this?" He looked back at Tifa, who was pointing to the middle of her forearm. There was a patch of cotton taped down over something.

"You're lucky we're both type B," she spat, brushing her hair out of her face. She huffed angrily. "I never thought I was going to have to save my own son from committing such a cowardly act. I don't care what was going through your mind. You're going to stay here for the next few weeks. Then I want you back in a group. No arguments. I don't care if you hate it or not."

…

_**Present Day**_

Roxas looked down again. "I was in the psychiatric ward for three and a half weeks. Then…my mom brought me here. I don't understand why she was so angry about me trying to kill myself…maybe I wasn't thinking straight when I tried, but I just wanted to end it all."

He pulled up the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt and displayed the two scars that nearly ended his life. One was at the top of his arm. Underneath of it, there were still small signs of the blue veins beneath. The other one was a few inches beneath the first one. He hid them again, looking around shamefully. "It didn't hurt, for those of you who were going to ask that. It didn't feel like anything."

Xion bit her lip. He had tried to kill himself because his girlfriend, the only one he loved, was dead.

She felt like she could almost relate to that…

"Xion," Olette said, gently. Roxas swallowed but looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You're the last one. Ready to share?"

She nodded.

* * *

**Thanks to **_**DiveintoHeart**_** for favoriting! **

**Thanks to all who reviewed! **

**KeytoOblivion : I'm tempted to actually go see if I can't find it at the library. It sounds like a good story. I really didn't want to kill Sora but really couldn't think of someone that Riku and Kairi would share to lose that would effect them like it did. ): **

**Lafayette722 : Well thanks. (: I hope that you continue reading. **

**Omega Star Shooter 14 : Lol, that's okay. I know, I've read your challenge. It's good. ;) **

**DiveintoHeart : D: thanks for favoriting. :D I like actually taking terrible things and trying to make them into something better. **


	6. Xion - Wish You Were Here

**Xion**

_**Wish You Were Here**_

* * *

She had met Vanitas when they were five years old. They were in kindergarten together, and even then, he was the same person he was today : Cold, slightly sadistic, and sometimes kind of mean. Sure, you could add on that he was more perverted now and that he got into a lot more trouble now, but overall, still the same.

Xion didn't really remember how they became such close friends, but over the years, they had always had a class together. They were stuck together in the same class in kindergarten through fifth grade, and after that always had at least one class with each other. But they didn't have last names close to each other, Valentine and Farron were on two different ends on the alphabet.

Everything between the two was always fine. Sure, they fought, but they both got over it pretty easily. Nothing extreme had ever happened to them. Not until that day.

If you have a boy for a best friend, it's natural for people to randomly tell you that you two should go out, or ask you if you're going out. Sometimes they even tell you that your best friend has a crush on you. People did this to Xion and Vanitas many times, and neither of them really acknowledged it anymore. Xion really didn't like Vanitas like that. She thought of him as her brother. The one that she never had.

Xion sat in the back of the room in math class. It was second period, the one she hated most, because of the fact that she had math. It was so time consuming for her to do the homework, and she hated math with a passion. Lucky for her that she sat in the back, notes came her way all the time and she was able to be entertained with talking to people.

Toward the end of second period, a note came her way. The paper was torn off of a larger paper, and was from the girl next to her, Shiki. Xion carefully unfolded the note and read the one line on the page. _Did you know that Vanitas Valentine likes you?_

Xion rolled her eyes to this. She picked up her pencil and wrote back, _No he doesn't. _then handed it back to Shiki.

The red head's eyes widened at the newest line. She picked up her pen and scribbled down her answered, then tossed it back. Xion looked toward the teacher. His head was down, looking from the answer sheet of the night's previous homework and comparing it to a student's sheet. His forehead wrinkled in disgust.

She unfolded the note again and began reading. _No really! Joshua asked him and he answered that he does. Why would he lie about that? _

_He was probably just trying to get Josh off his back! He can be annoying at times, you know. _She was starting to get annoyed herself. She tossed the note back to Shiki, but the bell rang before she could even read it. Xion picked up her binder and hurried out, hoping to escape anymore questions from the other girl. Even though she had gotten the question five million times before, it was on her mind the rest of the day. When Vanitas asked if he could stay the night at her house (like he had done all of last week and the week before.) she almost hesitated to say yes.

She calmed her mind, and decided that she would straight forward ask him later that night. They sat alone in the house, watching a movie that Vanitas had picked out. Xion hated scary movies, but she had grown to be able to stand them. Of course, she still flinched a little inside when there was blood spilt. She had a fear of blood, and hated it greatly.

"You want any popcorn?" Vanitas asked, pausing the movie. She looked at him, and shook her head. He got off the couch and walked to the kitchen, tore open a bag and placed it in the microwave.

"Hey," Xion said. She turned around and criss crossed her legs. "Why do you always ask to come over and stay here?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "…why does it matter? You want me to leave?"

She shook her head. "No! I was just wondering to why you don't go home sometimes and stay with your dad."

He stayed silent for a moment, watching the bag of popcorn pop and rattle. "My dad is an asshole. He's either to strict about something, or too soft. So…it doesn't matter, okay?" He suddenly reverted back to using that excuse, as if to mask the anger, or maybe it was sadness, that was beginning to creep into his voice.

Xion rested her head on her arms, which she had crossed over the side of the couch. "And…I have another question." She really couldn't believe that she was going to ask this, but she needed. "Do you…have a crush on me?"

Vanitas paused, his eyes locked with the popcorn, ears filled with the sound of beeping, telling him that the popcorn was reading. "Vanitas? Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "Who told you that one?" Vanitas laughed out something that was pure bitterness. Xion blinked, shocked by that. He was always a little weird when these kinds of questions came up, but not this weird. "Just let it go, Xion."

"That's not an answer." She stood from the couch and walked over to him. "If you have a crush on me, or something like that, it's okay to tell me. I'm not going to judge you or anything." The truth would have been nice to know.

Vanitas glanced at her. She smiled. He took a step forward. Both of his hands reached out toward her wrists, holding them tight. Xion gave a confused look.

Then he kissed her. Xion's face burned with the contact of their lips. She wanted to pull away but didn't want to be insensitive at the same time. When he let go of her, she looked down, pressing three of her fingers against her lips.

"…do you love me?" Vanitas asked. She felt her blush deepen, but for a moment, she tried to figure out an answer.

"I love you like a brother…" she started. Vanitas shook his head. He didn't let go of her left wrist, but had already allowed her right wrist out of his tight grasp. Xion cringed when he tightened his grip even more. "Vanitas, please, stop."

"You want the answer? No, I don't like you. I love you. I've loved forever, but I never knew it until lately. All you have to do is love me back." His face came closer. "I love you, Xion. Do you hear me?"

"You-you're a psycho!" she finally found the strength to pull away, and take several steps away from him. "Don't ever do that to me again, Vanitas. I don-, well, I care that you love me, but I don't love you back. I'm sorry."

His face softened a little, and he swallowed. A very long silence broke between them, both of them stared at each other. Xion rubbed her wrist. He had made a red mark in the shape of his hand, and it still hurt. He finally spoke, "Never will either, will you? That's just fine. That's perfectly fine." He walked to the door and opened it, turned around to give Xion a dirty look. "You're a bitch. You know that? I've cleaned up your messes more times than either of us can count, and you still act like a bitch toward me." His head turned away, he scoffed. "I don't know why, of all people, it was you I fell in love with."

Those words stung Xion, but she knew she had deserved them. Vanitas slammed the door shut, leaving her in the house alone, the movie still paused, the popcorn still in the microwave. She knew that she should run out after him and try again to apologize, but something made her stand still and say nothing. She felt selfish.

It kept Xion up the rest of the night. Her mom and dad finally came home a few hours later, finding Xion sitting on the couch alone, watching the rest of the movie that Vanitas had put on. It was strange that she would do that, both of them noted that well. When she went to bed, she still couldn't sleep, even though it was one in the morning.

The guilt was creeping in faster now. She took out her phone and began texting feverishly. _Vanitas, I'm sorry. Where are you?_

She hadn't expected that he would reply so quick. Yet, he did. _I'm on the roof of my apartment building. Why would you care? _

Xion didn't respond. Instead, she threw on a pair of jeans, changed her shirt, and pulled on a jacket. She slipped into some sandals and quietly walked to the front door. She opened it, and locked it from the outside again with her spare key that she usually wore around her neck, and ran down the street. Vanitas lived a few minutes away, they both usually just walked down to each other's houses, even when they were seven.

She looked up at the apartment building, twelve stories high. She saw a figure at the top, at the ledge.

"Shit," she murmured. She ran up twelve flights of stairs, avoiding people that were walking down them. Most of them gave her strange looks when she looked back to try and apologize. She made it to the top, exhausted and barely able to breathe. Vanitas looked back at her. He was standing on the edge of the building. He didn't turn his body at all when she came up.

"Vanitas," she gasped. She took a few steps closer. He didn't move. "Please, don't do this. It's…it's not necessary at all. Please…we can work this out. You're just overreacting."

He shook his head. "Nah. I'm not overreacting at all, actually. I waited, and waited, and waited, but, of course, nothing. You don't really care about me, do you? You're just a lying bitch…" he smirked toward her. "I guess I'll see you in Hell, right? See ya then…" his feet left the ledge.

"No!" She ran forward, just in time to catch his hand before he fell completely. He was a good thirty pounds heavier than her, though, and she was never very strong. She held on with everything she had, though. "Please!"

He shot her a glare. "Let me go. Now." He reached up with his other hand and began prying her fingers off of his wrist. A drop of water hit him on the forehead. He looked up again. It was rain, like he had suspected.

Or maybe it really was the tears that were rolling off Xion's face. He stopped prying, letting his arm drop again. He had seen her cry more times than he could count, and he had been the one to support her through everything. Who would she have, now?

It didn't matter. She would find a better person than him anyway. His hand was slipping out from her's, the rain pelted Xion's back in heavy drops.

His hand slipped out of hers.

He fell.

…

_**Two weeks later**_

"I just don't understand!" Lightning complained. Xion was supposed to not be listening, but the door of the therapist's office was wide open. She kept her mouth shut, though. "She refuses to talk, and it's not just around the house. The teachers said that she hasn't been talking, not even passing notes around like she used to. No one else has heard her talk since that night…"

"Mrs. Caelum," the therapist said gently. "Xion watched the one person closest to her commit suicide. She watched him fall to his death, didn't she?" Lightning stayed silent. "May I call you Claire?" Her mother answered with a yes. "Well, Claire, have you ever thought that maybe Xion has developed a case of reactive mutism? It's a form of selective mutism. She refuses to speak, yes? She might just be having a hard time trying to speak. Some people developed it after watching something that traumatizes them."

Lightning sighed. "I wish that wasn't the case, but I do think that's what's going on. Is there any cure for it? Medicine, maybe, that'll make her stop being so depressing?"

He sighed. "Yes, there is, but I don't want Xion being forced to talk because of medication. it's your choice, as a parent, but remember that Xion's just really being forced with medication to be happy. I strongly discourage it." Xion looked back. He glanced at her, smiled and winked. Then he pulled a piece of paper off of a notepad and wrote something down. He handed it to Lightning. "I highly suggest, though, a support group. I know of a child that went to this one and got much better. He had something similar to Xion, but much more severe. If they could help him, I think they can help Xion."

…

_**Present Day**_

Xion folded her hands together. Getting all of it out felt different, it almost felt good. But, she felt like she had spilled too much information about herself and that she had gone overboard. Of course, everybody else probably felt the same.

"Thank you, Xion," Olette said. Xion nodded. "And, thanks to all of you for being brave and sharing. We don't have much time left." She looked at the clock. "About ten minutes. You can socialize." Olette stood up and folded her chair shut.

Everyone spilt into their groups and began talking.

Except Xion.

* * *

**Thanks to **** _KHwriter . com_ and **_**NightFallSky**_** for the favorite! **

**Thanks to **_**Precambrian Studios**_**, _KHwriter . com_****, and **_**NightfallSky**_** for the alert! **

**Omega Star Shooter 14 : D:**

**Jgodinkitty : Thank you. **

**NightfallSky : Thanks. ;) I like romance and everything, and even though this story might have some of it in it, it's not all romance. I needed to break from that. It's more friendship and hurt/comfort, I think. I wish people would write more stories about coping with problems like this too, honestly. I've only found a few. **

** : I don't really like RokuNami that much, RokuShi is actually my OTP, but I didn't want Axel to be the one that Roxas lost, for some reason. I have other plans for him, so I just used Namine. Thanks for the review. ;) **


	7. Night Time

The group ended at the scheduled time, but Xion wasn't out of the room until five minutes afterwards. She didn't have any real reasoning behind it, she just didn't want to leave until everyone else had. Or until Olette made her leave. Riku was the first to leave, and Aqua was the last. Aqua stuck around a little longer to discuss something with Olette.

Finally, Olette had spotted that Xion was still in the room. She was at the door slipping her sandals back on when she turned and noticed her. "Oh, hey Xion. Do you have a ride to get back home?"

Xion nodded. "Are they here yet?" Xion looked over toward the window, and scanned the parking lot for her mother's car. She found it at the very back, but couldn't see if her mother was inside or not. But she nodded again anyway. "Well, I have to leave, but I can't go until everyone is gone. Would you like me to walk you out?"

The ravenette brushed a few strands of hair back from her face. "…yeah."

Olette smiled. "Okay then. Let me get my coat and I'll meet you at the stairs." The older woman walked over to the closet at the back of the room and looked through it. Xion went out to the stars and waited, but it didn't take long for Olette to come out of the room. She carried a brown leather purse on her left shoulder. "Ready to go? The rain is about to get heavy." With that in mind, Xion shuddered and nodded once more. She pulled her hood over her head.

When the made it to the car, Xion thanked Olette and climbed into the back seat of the car. Before Lightning even said hello, she rolled down her window so Olette could speak.

"Hello," she said.

"How was she today?" Lightning asked immediately. She forgot to say hello.

Olette played with one of her braids as she talked. "Well, she did really good. Most of the time she was quiet, but whenever I talked to her she would respond."

"Did she talk to anyone else, by chance?" Xion hoped that Olette would lie and say that she had talked to everyone there, like a good girl, but of course she was honest and shook her head. Lightning gripped the steering wheel and sighed.

"It sometimes takes a while for people to warm up to talking to strangers after what she's been through," Olette advised, hoping to lift Lightning's spirits. "And it was her first day. A lot of new people are like that."

Lightning shook her head. "She'll get better. Or, I better be spending money for a good cause."

Xion buckled herself into the seat. Olette looked back at her, but said nothing. She didn't say anything to what Lightning had stated either. But she gave them both one more smile. "It was nice to meet you both. But I have to get going before the rain starts again. See you next Wednesday!"

"Yes," Lightning said. She rolled her window up, and put the car in reverse. She pulled out and drove on. Xion was afraid of what she was going to say, but for the longest time, Lightning didn't even say anything. It wasn't until the first red light they hit that she talked. "So…how many others were there?"

Xion raised her fingers so her mother could see them. "Six, huh? That's a decent sized group." Xion leaned back, unsure of how to respond. She looked out the window. Sure enough, there were huge drops of rain beginning to hit the car. Good thing they were just driving to a hotel and spending the night. Lightning said that she didn't feel like going up and back in the same day. It would just be the two of them tonight, Noctis would be back home taking care of the house and their dog Goofy.

It was probably the best not to drive all the way back anyway, since there was going to be so much rain and apparently a severe thunderstorm warning.

When they got to the hotel, Xion was happy that she had made a point of packing light. Her backpack only included two changes of clothes, her toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush. Lightning on the other hand had made a point of packing everything else she though they would need. Shampoo and conditioner (even though hotels usually had little bottles that you could use.) more clothing, Xion's inhaler (she hadn't had an asthma attack since she was six, but she still carried it around.) and a bunch of other stuff.

The hotel's elevator was out of order, so they had to climb the steps up to the fourth floor. The only word that came out of Lightning's mouth the whole time was "dammit". The suitcase she was carrying was probably around twenty pounds. Noctis had even warned her to pack light. But of course, she didn't take his advice.

"This is it," she breathed out, throwing the suitcase on the ground. She pulled out the key and unlocked it, pushed the door open. Lightning didn't bother to even pick up the suitcase, instead, she just kicked it until it was in the room. This was interesting to watch, and slightly comical. People walked by and gave her strange looks, but Lightning didn't notice.

Xion calmly walked in afterwards.

The room consisted of two queen sized beds and a table with one chair. There was a small TV and a bathroom off to the side. Just like every other hotel room Xion had ever been in before. She shut the door so no one else could see Lightning continue to push the suitcase to the other end of the room. Xion looked away and resisted the urge to laugh.

"There," Lightning said. She pretended to wipe sweat away from her forehead. She unzipped the suitcase and started putting everything where it belonged. In Xion's mind, it really didn't matter where everything went because they were only going to be here for the night.

Xion sat down on the edge of the bed closest to the window, and watched her mother come back and forth from the bathroom to the main room, and then go back again. Or she would go to the suitcase, pull out some clothes, and stuff them into the dresser. Xion reached over to the table between both the beds and opened the drawer. Inside were the remote, and of course a Bible. Just like every other hotel room. She took the remote and began flipping through the channels.

When Lightning finally finished putting everything away, she sat down on her bed and dialed a number on her cell phone. She was calling to tell Noctis that they had finally made it to the hotel, and would be back sometime in the morning. Or afternoon. Whenever they decided to get up.

Xion on the other hand, gave up on trying to find something to watch and tossed the remote onto the other bed. She reached over the side of her bed to Lightning's suitcase and opened it, found her drawing supplies, and pulled them out. She began flipping through the pages past her old drawings, ones that had started out terrible and slowly gotten better, until she found a blank sheet.

"You've gotten better at drawing," Lightning pointed out. Xion jumped. She hadn't known that she was watching her. "A lot better."

Xion nodded, scratched the back of her head and took out a pencil. "…thanks."

She heard her mother chuckle. "Wow. You said something." She must have heard how rude it really sounded, because she shut her mouth. "Sorry Shi."

Said girl shrugged, uncaring. Even if her mother had sounded rude, and they had both noticed it, she really didn't care. Lightning had said a lot worse in the past.

Thunder roared, and it wasn't in the distance. It seemed as if it was right over top of them. Lightning wasn't phased but, Xion covered her head with her hands. She thought that now that there had been thunder there would definitely be lightning, and the hotel could catch on fire if it really was right overtop of them. Xion hugged her legs closer to her chest and hid her face between them.

"You okay over there?" Lightning asked. There was an impatient tone to her voice, but she was trying to mask it, obviously. "What? It's not like you're going to die or anything."

Xion moved away from the bed, stood up and walked to the drawer. She pulled out her pajamas, walked to the bathroom and dressed, brushed her teeth and brushed through her hair one last time. She crawled into bed without another word, curled into a ball again and turned away from Lightning.

"I take it you're going to sleep?" she asked. Xion didn't respond, hoping that she would think that she was already asleep. Lightning sighed. "Okay Xion. Goodnight to you too."

Again another silence came, and then the room went dark. Streets lights illuminated a small portion of the right side of the room, close to Xion's bed. Xion forced herself to sleep soon after that.

…

The next morning, she woke up groggy. The rain had finally stopped by the time she was awake, and the only sounds she heard were running water from the bathroom, and birds chirping outside the window. She had to force herself to get out of bed, to look around the room and see that most of everything was put away already. Lightning had left an outfit out for her; a long sleeved green shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

Lightning must have been taking a shower, because the running water continued for a while before it finally stopped. She still didn't come out, until she had dried her hair and changed into her clothes. Then she spotted Xion, sitting on the edge of the bed again.

"You going to take a shower before I put everything away?" Lightning asked. Xion nodded, grabbed the outfit that Lightning had left out, and headed for the bathroom. She was quicker than Lightning in the way of getting in and out of the shower, since she didn't have to spend so much time doing her hair. She blew it dry once she was dressed, folded her towel into a nice, neat square, and put it into the suitcase when she walked out. She packed everything else away, then had to wait for her mother to get ready and check out.

"Here." Xion looked up toward her once they were in the car. She was holding out her cell phone, giving her another impatient look. "Call your father and tell him we're on our way."

"…okay." She searched for Noctis's contact and called him, and waited.

"_Hello?" _He answered. He sounded tired, the phone had probably woke him up.

"Daddy," Xion said, letting him know that it was her. "We're on our way home."

"_Oh. Okay," _he said, sounding surprised. Either his surprised was caused by Xion talking in a full sentence, or just the fact that it was Xion on the phone instead of Lighting. _"Sounds great. Love you. See you soon." _

"I love you too."

* * *

**NightFallSky : Yeah, I enjoy updating fast that way people don't have to wait. Xion is holding her feelings back, poor girl doesn't really know how to express them. **

**OmegaStarShooter14 : I can understand that. He's a lot like me too. **

**Jgodinkitty : Thank you, and his name is spelled Vanitas. **

**DiveintoHeart : He will probably get in trouble, knowing Roxas. **


	8. Visitor

_**/Roxas **_

The next day, Roxas woke to yet another sunny morning. And of course, the sound of his mother knocking at the door. If he wasn't up by a certain time, she would come knocking at the door to make sure that he was awake. That was a nicer way of saying, she was coming to make sure that he was still alive and hadn't killed himself.

The previous support group meeting, a new girl had been introduced. Tifa had asked if anything new had happened when he got into the car and they were driving down the road, and he told her this.

She had pretended to take an interest in this, or maybe she really had taken an interest in it. She just seemed really cheesy about it. She asked a lot of questions about…oh, what was her name? Xion? Yeah, that was it. Then she asked, "What's her story?" and Roxas shut his mouth.

He wasn't in the place to be telling other people's stories. Roxas commented, "she lost someone close to her", though that was exactly what the group meetings were about. Recovering from the grieving process.

Roxas had been in the group a mere month before Xion came. No one had really even talked about why they were there or told their stories, so it made for an interesting group meeting.

"Roxas!" Tifa called again. This time, her voice was full of a mixture of worry, frustration, and exasperation. Like he was burdening her with his presence. "You awake?" Translation : "You still alive?"

"I'm up, I'm up," he muttered, doubting that she could hear him. It was worth a shot anyway. The pounding on the door stopped, but it opened and Tifa walked inside.

"Really?" he asked. His hand went over his face, and he reached down to pull the cover over his face.

Tifa shrugged, looking around the room. She picked up a shirt from the floor. "You didn't answer the first three times. So, I came in on my own." She spotted him with the cover pulled over his head, pulled it down and snapped. "It's about time to get up, don't you think?"

"Where are we going?" Roxas asked. Usually Tifa didn't bitch about him sleeping in too late. She let him be unless they needed to be somewhere. So of course, a reaction like the last one meant he needed to get ready and look decent.

"You're not going anywhere today," she said. When Roxas attempted to pull the cover back over his head, Tifa held out her arm to block him from doing so. "look, Yuffie is coming to visit in about an hour. Get up, take a shower, and I want you to hide those." She motioned to the scars on his arms; pink strips of skin that were raised above the rest. Yuffie worries about you like she's your mother, and I don't want to have to remind her again that you're not her child. You're mine."

Roxas said nothing. He knew that fighting back was useless. Tifa was stubborn minded when it came to others worrying about Roxas. She would remind them that "It was his decision to commit such a cowardly act" after the one he loved the most in the world was dead. Cold, and dead in the ground. He had no way of visiting her, she was cremated and her ashes scattered. Tifa didn't tell him where, and he knew if he asked that she would just pretend she didn't hear the question.

He had to admit that he hadn't been thinking straight when he dug into his arm with that knife. Maybe he was being a little impulsive, but at least he had reason to be.

Tifa shook the side of the bed. "You got it? And when you're done, get to cleaning this room. Or, if you can cop a happy attitude, you can come down and talk to Yuffie with me. She's only going to be in town for a few days. She might have to stay over, so don't be surprised if she's here in the morning. I don't want to hear any complaints about it. Hurry up."

"Yeah, yeah," Roxas muttered as she hurried out of the room saying that she needed to get things ready.

Sitting up in his bed, Roxas groaned quietly and ran his hands through his hair. He felt like a zombie in the morning, no matter what time it was that he was waking up. Surely he wasn't going to be able to cop a happy attitude like Tifa suggested. One hour wasn't enough time for him to fully wake up. It would just be best if he stayed in his room most the time Yuffie was there.

He changed into a long sleeved shirt and some jeans, the slipped some socks on. Roxas looked for a place to start cleaning in his room, but there was a little bit of something everywhere so it was hard to figure out where to start. He finally found a place, and began throwing dirty clothes into the hamper and putting clean clothes away. He took a shower the previous night. Tifa must have already been asleep by then.

A while into cleaning, he glanced out his window and found an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. Out the driver's door stepped s small girl with short black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a brown tank top, denim jacket, and black skinny jeans.

This had to be Yuffie. She seemed paler and looked like she had lost weight. Tifa appeared from out the front door and embraced the small woman happily. The two began talking as they walked back into the house.

Roxas couldn't help but think that Namine's death had taken an equal toll on both of them, seeing now that Yuffie looked the same as she did right before she moved, but at the same time she looked different. Less healthy. Like she hadn't been taking care of herself, or she was just getting older and more worn.

He finished cleaning a few moments later and noticed that the appearance of his room had improved greatly. Once he was finished he sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. Tifa had once had his internet shut off, but he was slowly gaining his privileges back. She had taken just about everything away from him after he got out of the psychiatric ward. His computer, the TV, any music that she didn't approve of (which means basically all of his music.) his cell phone, and he even had to take time off of school.

Now that he was "improving" in life, he was allowed to do most of the things that he wasn't allowed to do.

Curiosity suddenly got the best of him when the new girl came to mind again. He opened a new browser page and typed the new girl's name in, trying to remember it from the top of his head. One page came up, a Facebook account. He clicked the link.

The profile picture was of a girl, and a boy. Both had black hair. The girl's hair was styled to be short and choppy, and her eyes were dark blue. She was smiling happily, while the boy next to her was the complete opposite. His hair was spiky and his eyes were an unnatural shade of bright yellow. He was wearing a stern face and glared at the camera. Both of them were looking up, which made Roxas think that Xion was taking the photo herself, maybe on a phone.

This had to be Xion's page. Though, the girl he met last night seemed to have a completely different personality than the girl here. The girl last night was silent and only looked up and only talked when she was talked to. She didn't smile. This girl, looking at the previous posts, was a happy and eager girl ready to face the world. This girl had a total of two hundred and seven friends, and had taken dozens of pictures of herself with friends, and alone. Most were taken with the boy with black hair, who Roxas suspected was Vanitas.

The newest post was from a few hours ago. It was a picture of her, the Xion he knew, sitting in the backseat of a car. She had an unamused expression on her face. The post said, "Bored out of my mind" and already had three likes. Someone had commented asking where she was, but she hadn't replied.

Roxas scrolled down to the next post, but it wasn't from Xion. Someone had written on her wall. A boy with blond hair wearing a beanie wrote, "U r the reason hes dead bitch. Burn in Hell." There were fifteen other comments, all standing up for her and calling this person a jerk, and other names. Some comments were short, other comments were long.

He closed the page and shut his laptop, and leaned back in his chair. He couldn't help but be curious about her. She just had such a mysterious aura to her. At the meeting she seemed so lifeless, but the look in her eyes said she wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out.

A knock alarmed at the door. Roxas spun around in his chair toward the door and said, "Come in."

The door opened slightly, and Yuffie poked her head through. She smiled, walked inside, and stretched out her arms. Roxas stood and hugged her.

"Hi!" she chirped happily. She broke away from him and let her eyes widen. "Man! You've gotten so tall!"

Roxas shook his head. "Nah. You're just a shorty like you've always been."

She pouted playfully. "Hush, you brat." Yuffie flicked his chest, then fell back onto his bed as if it were her own. "Ugh. The ride here was such a pain in the ass. Where was sooo much traffic. It sucked."

"I'm sorry," Roxas said, unsure of what else he could say. Yuffie had surely maintained her childish attitude. But what about what she was thinking? What was going through her head. Maybe she didn't think like she was a child anymore.

"How have you been?" Yuffie asked suddenly. She sat up and crossed one leg overtop the other. "I know your mom hates when I ask you this stuff, so don't tell on me, okay?" She raised a finger to her lips and smirked.

Roxas shrugged. "Things could be better, but they haven't gotten worse. I guess she didn't tell you that I'm in a support group now?"

She shook her head. "Nope. She didn't tell me that. But that's really good!" She raised her arms in the air as a sort of celebration pose. "I really hope that you get better soon. I know Namine being dead is really hard for you…it's hard for me too. So I know how you feel."

He flinched. "Namine" and "dead" didn't fit together in a sentence. No one had ever said those two words together in front of him. Of course they probably did behind his back.

Yuffie rose and stretched her arms out, and yawned. "Well, I told Tifa that I was only going to come up and say hi, so I better get back down there quick. It was nice talking to you." She gave him one last hug, and walked out the door.

Roxas sighed and fell back into the chair. Yuffie had a way of easily wearing people out. Roxas turned around toward the computer again, and opened it back up.

* * *

**Writers Prose : Wow, thank you for the reviews! (: I agree with you, I always for some reason thought of Kairi having anorexia, she always just seemed too skinny, in a way. To answer your question, Olette is married to Hayner. Xion is one of my favorite characters, and Days is also one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts games, because it gives more depth into Roxas's story and of course, it gave us Xion. For your second review, I do understand the grieving process pretty well, I think. My dad died when I was ten so and I witnessed my mom's grief and everyone around me, as well as my own. (And now I'm getting personal, too.) But anyway, thank you for the wonderful reviews. **

**Jgodinkitty : No problem. (: **

**KeytoOblivion : Thank you. I wanted to some the reader a little bit of family time between the two of them. **

**NightFallSky : She really is, in a way. XD And thank you. (: **

**Raina : I will. :D **

**XXXHikari-KuraiXXX : I understand, I enjoy writing stories like this, recovering from something terrible. (': **

**DiveintoHeart : It was nice to show a little more of Xion and Lightning's relationship, especially since Xion's adopted. Lightning doesn't really seem like the motherly type to me, but I can see her wanting a child somewhere down the line. **


	9. Peaceful Remnants

_**Kairi and Riku**_

* * *

"Riku, come over~," Kairi muttered. It was still around noon, maybe a little earlier for him to be coming over, but she was lonely and bored and her parents were at work. She had already texted him and told him to get him butt over here before she made him get over here. That was around a half hour ago. She didn't know what was taking so long.

She herself had just gotten out of the shower, wasn't even dressed yet. But he was Riku, it didn't really matter anymore if he saw her wrapped in a towel or anything like that. They had known each other for so long, she didn't really even think of him as a guy. Well she did think and know that he was a guy, but he wasn't a normal guy. It wasn't like she was getting dressed in front of one of her normal guy friends that she only knew from school. It was…different.

Kairi ran a brush through her hair and peeked out the bathroom window, took note that he still wasn't there, and pulled the curtain back into place.

Today was a unusually hot day, not like the weather they had been having. During the rainy season, Destiny Islands barely got any days that were over sixty or seventy degrees. Her phone said that today it was ninety. Kairi preferred the rainy season, even though it reminded her of the days leading up to Sora's murder. There were more good things that happened to her during the rainy season- she had her first kiss in the rain, her birthday fell during this part of the year, and other things.

She tried to look on the bright side of things, no matter how down she felt. This strategy usually worked for her. She could dress up on a bad day and trick herself into thinking she was having a good day. Kairi didn't know how she knew to do this; one day she just did it, and it seemed to work.

"Where are you, Riku….?" she asked, of course knowing that she wasn't going to be getting an answer. She threw on a tank top and a pair of shorts, then ran the brush through her hair once more before running down the stairs. The air conditioning was blasting, and she was freezing since she had just gotten out of the shower. Her hair dripping wet and the temperature being seventy degrees wasn't pleasant. She could deal with the heat.

She would rather take warm days over cold days.

A knock sounded at the door, and she perked up at the sound of it. At the moment it was like music to her ears. She opened the door and flashed a smile, about to tell Riku that it had took him long enough to get here. It wasn't Riku though. It was a man dressed in a brown suit and brown hat holding a brown box. Her smile withered a little, even though she tried to keep it in order to not seem rude or that she was unexcited to see him. That would later make her feel bad.

"Hi," he said. He looked at the box, towards a label, then back up. "This is the Obata residence, correct?"

"Yep." Kairi nodded. He held out a piece of paper and pen and asked her to sign. Kairi signed her mother's signature and took the box, thanking the man for it when he handed it to her. She shut the door and put the package onto the dinner table. Her mother probably wouldn't want her looking through her stuff, especially if it was unopened.

She picked her phone up again and this time called Riku. Boredom was getting the best of her and she couldn't think of anyone else to invite over. The phone rang four times and he didn't pick up. Kairi sighed angrily.

"Riiiiku!" she whined into the phone. "You need to come over~. Please?"

"_I'm coming, I'm coming," _he said as he picked up the phone. _"I was sleeping. Give me a minute and I'll be there." _

"How long will it be?" she asked, plopping down on the couch and crossing one skinny leg over the other. Kairi wanted to know so she knew how to entertain herself during this time period.

He gave a loud, annoyed sigh. _"Thirty minutes…maybe an hour. I don't really know. Around that time I guess." _

"Okay, see ya then!" Kairi said cheerfully, then hung up. She reached over to the coffee table to pick up the remote but- it wasn't there. Her dad must have been watching TV last night. He was the only person who didn't bother to put the remote back on the table. Kairi and her mother were considerate enough to do so. She ran her hand down the side of the cushions where the remote had usually fallen. When she found it she pulled it out and turned quickly, pressing one of the buttons and trending the TV one.

Being clumsy Kairi though, her socks slid on the wood floor and she landed on her butt. Maybe she had turned a little too quickly.

She laughed at herself. It really did take a lot of talent just to trip over a flat surface.

The TV was on the news channel, and they were flashing a weather report. It was supposed to be up to ninety seven degrees. They were showing warnings, to check on the elderly and to keep cool. Kairi considered turning the air conditioning up, and out of paranoia she decided to. But she didn't turn it up much, just a touch. Riku would probably get onto her for keeping the house so hot, and her parents would too.

She was Kairi though, and she wanted the house to be hot rather than cold.

Kairi turned the channel, seeing nothing better to watch as she kept going. There was absolutely nothing. It got boring every channel she went passed. She gave up when she got back to the weather station and walked over to find movie to watch from the wide variety of DVDs her mother and father had collected over the years. That was one of her father's strange hobbies. He loved DVDs.

She loved him right now for it though. They came in handy when there was nothing better on the TV than _Barney and Friends_.

She picked a random DVD from the shelf and popped it into the DVD player. While waiting for the commercials to end, she hunted around the kitchen, suddenly having a feeling that she needed to cook something. Or bake. Then her mom and dad could have it all tonight when they came home. Kairi herself wasn't hungry.

That's what her mind fooled her body into thinking, at least. Eventually it would come back on her and she would have to eat something. But that day wasn't today.

Once she found the cookie mix she dumped the dry batter into a bowl and started the movie. She could barely hear the sound of knocking over the entertainment system, but she was still able to catch it. Kairi preheated the oven and ran to the door and opened it.

"About time!" she teased, pulling the door open so Riku could make his way into the house.

The silver haired boy rolled his eyes, walked it and sat down on the couch like it was his own house that he were in. "I had to get something to wear and eat. Then my mom nagged at me for not doing the laundry last night." He spotted the blue bowl on the counter. "What are you making this time?"

"Cookies," she answered, throwing the remote toward him so he could mess with the movie or change it. Kairi went back to her bowl and gathered the rest of the ingredients.

"What kind?" he asked.

She stopped. That was something she had forgotten to check for. "Hang on," she said as she walked over to the trashcan. She opened it and picked the bag back up, much to her disgust. "Sugar." She threw the bag back into the garbage.

"Yum," Riku said.

"Yep," Kairi responded. She dropped small balls of dough onto a tray and placed them in the oven. During this time Riku didn't say anything to her, and she didn't say anything to Riku. Once they were in and she had finally set the timer, Kairi walked back over behind him and started messing with his hair. "Can I cut your hair yet?"

"No," Riku groaned. She giggled. "Not yet. The next time my mom wants, no, forces me to get it cut, I'll let you do it."

"Promise?" she asked childishly.

"Yes," he muttered. Kairi knew he liked his hair longer than shorter. He always thought that it looked stupid when it was short, but whenever his mom told him to get a hair cut, he came to Kairi. When she was younger she wanted to be a beautician. But no, even though her father encouraged her to be whatever she wanted to be, her mother said that it was highly unlikely that she would ever get into that profession. She wanted Kairi to be a dancer.

"When are those cookies going to be ready?" Riku murmured. It was a question both he and Sora used to plan to ask at the same time, and whenever they would try to, Riku would always say it first with Sora following seconds after. Riku would get mad at him for that. Well, he wouldn't really be mad, he would just get agitated that things didn't go as planned.

"Soon," Kairi answered. It was her turn to ask a question. "So, how did you think of the group the other night?" She messed with his hair a little more.

"It was pretty interesting," he sighed. "But I didn't like the part where we shared stories. Did you?"

Kairi shrugged. "Well, we were going to have to tell why we were there eventually. I didn't really like it, but it was good to get it off my chest." She pulled a hand full of his hair. "Because _someone_ just sat there and listened while I told _our_ story."

"Ow!" he complained, holding the back of his head. Kairi walked away when the timer on the stove went off. "Jesus, Kairi, for such a small girl you can pull hair hard."

"It doesn't take much," she said. Kairi pulled on an oven mitt and stuck her hand into the oven, pulled the cookies out, and shut the door with her foot. She quickly put the tray on the counter and ripped the mitt off, put it back on the hook that hung on the wall.

Riku walked over and picked one up, but realized it was still hot and threw his hand up in the air. The cookie flew up and hit the ceiling, then fell down and hit the ground. He looked up at Kairi and Kairi looked at him, and both burst into laughter.

"Stupid," Kairi laughed. She held her stomach with one hand and put her other over her mouth. It had been something so simple, but it had made her happy. She didn't know if he had done it on purpose or not, but it was something Sora would have done.

She smiled. Even if Sora wasn't here, she knew Riku and her would make it through anything that life threw at them.

* * *

**Been a while~. In my mind, at least. Lol. **

**XXXHikari-KuraiXXX : Tee hee, maybe just a little~. ;) **

**KeytoOblivion : Yep, I'm hoping to cover the rest of everybody else in the week they have between group meetings. **

**DiveintoHeart : They're the chapter that reveal more of the inner pain of just that one person. **


	10. Shush

Zexion shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. He watched the pharmacy doors as they slid open and shut each time someone walked through. His mother had gone in to get medication for the family, and had yet to come out. She asked him if he wanted to come in, but he refused and sat in the car half an hour later, windows rolled down and waiting against the hot leather interior.

Yoko Yamamoto was still a fairly young woman; she had Zexion at the young age of fifteen and had told him many times that she didn't regret that decision. She was thirty three now, and now she was pregnant with her second child. Zexion didn't care for a younger brother or sister, but she wasn't giving the baby up for anything.

Zexion still didn't know why she was taking so long. He huffed and shrank down deeper against the seat, until only his eyes peered out over the window. After another few minutes his mother staggered out, followed by a man that was probably ten or twenty years older than herself. They exchanged a smile and parted ways, neither one ever looked back.

She climbed into the car, flashing her signature smile toward him. She reached back and put the pharmacy bag into the backseat.

"What took you so long?" Zexion asked. His mother's smile faded. "You were in there for a long time."

"Was I?" she asked slowly. She looked at the clock. "Oh, I was. I ran into an old friend of mine, that's all. He noticed that I was…well, you know." She motioned to her swollen belly, six months along. "He wanted to know how I was doing."

"That guy was an old friend of yours?" Zexion was skeptical.

"Yes," she said. "I graduated with him."

"He looked like he was a lot older than you."

She smiled, checked her reflection in the mirror, and began to pull out of the parking spot. "He always has. Of course, I've always looked younger than everyone else, you know." It was true. Yoko had grown to be 5'2, she always looked like a teenager and probably always would. Zexion took after her, but he had grown to be 5'4 and didn't grown any taller, according to his doctors he wasn't suppose to grown anymore.

Yay. He could be short forever.

"It was nothing," his mother finished as she drove further down the rode. Then she reached back to the back seat again, careful to keep her eyes on the road, and pulled the bag up again. She plopped it down next to Zexion. "Get in there and find your medicine. Put it in your bathroom when we get home, okay?"

"Yeah." he knew the drill. They'd been doing it for about four months now. Ever since the doctor filed a prescription for some medication that would keep him from falling into depression after Demyx's death, they had made a point of putting medicine in the right places. His mother always worried that he was going to end up hurting himself or something, and this fear was worsened when Zexion's parents decided to get divorced. She was afraid that Zexion hated her. No, he was actually proud of her for having the courage to actually get the divorce.

Of course Ienzo didn't care about the new baby coming along. He didn't want to father it, no, not after Zexion. He had had enough of that family completely, and decided to get rid of it. He believed that Zexion got all his worse qualities from his mother. With that, Ienzo was done. They hadn't seen him for about a month and a half. It was just as quiet. To Zexion it felt like nothing had changed.

"So," Yoko said, trying to make conversation. "You want to go to church tomorrow?"

Oh boy. This question, again. Zexion thought that she knew he didn't believe in God. "Not really."

"Okay," she said, shrugging her shoulders. She stared ahead at the road, a glassy look in her eyes.

Zexion sighed. "Do you want to?"

She held back a smile. "Well…yes, I wanted to. But if you don't want to…then we don't have to."

"You could always go without me," he said. Of course that was out of the question. Yoko didn't like leaving Zexion alone at home. He could sleep in and miss the bus, then have to run to school. Or someone could break into the house and kill him when she wasn't around. There were a number of possibilities. He had grown up knowing these facts. A paranoid mother was one of the worst to have, in Zexion's eyes.

Yoko swallowed, grimacing at the very thought. "I would rather just stay home. I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow anyway. Maybe I won't want to go to church. Not a clue."

Another moment of silence. "Yeah," Zexion added flatly. Yoko didn't add anything else. She turned the radio up a little louder so she could hear her CD. It was an old band, probably from the sixties or seventies. Music older than Yoko herself.

They made it back to the house in no time, and to help out Zexion grabbed a few of the grocery bags from the back seat. It had been their errand day. Grocery first, then the pharmacy, then anything else that needed to be done that day.

They walked up the stairs to the second floor of apartments, walked halfway down, moving silently passed doors, through one of the screen doors Zexion could hear a man and a woman fighting. Just like Ienzo and Yoko used to go. _What great times_, he thought sarcastically.

"Home sweet home," Yoko muttered as she fumbled with her keys, trying to find the correct one. She inserted it into the lock and opened the door, holding it for Zexion. She didn't have to do that, and he would have preferred that she didn't, but she was too caring about him sometimes.

"You want me to put the groceries away?" Zexion offered, turning back to his mother. She was still in the doorway, pulling the keys out of the door and hoisting the bags back up onto her arm.

"Sure, if you wouldn't mind," she said, her eyes bright. This was just something that Zexion liked to do to help out. It wasn't anything big or exciting that he could do. Just trying to help out. "I'm going to go take a quick shower. If you need help with anything just call me and I'll come help."

"I will," he said with a sigh. She knew, and he knew, that he wouldn't need any help. He was a big boy. No matter how much she wanted to play pretend that he was still her little boy.

She walked away and he began pulling food out of bags and putting two liters of sodas into the refrigerator. The pop was more for him than his mother. She never liked pop. Burned her throat. Zexion didn't know where that came from.

Zexion finished in about five minutes and threw the plastic bags into a container they had for them. He walked over to the couch and sat down on it, crossed his legs underneath of him. He turned on the tv to block out the sound of the shower. Because with the sound of the shower, came images of the person inside the shower. And he was grossed out by the thought of his mother in the shower.

Ew. Yuck. He needed to take soap to his eyes to get the images out. So instead he watched TV. Pretend that his mother was taking a nap, which was probably what she was going to do after she finished her shower.

An episode and a half of Spongebob (it was the only thing on besides Barney.) later, Yoko came out of the bathroom, steam rolling out behind her, brushing her long black hair. She was dressed in pajamas and fuzzy slippers, a tired expression held on her face.

"I'm going to go take a nap," she said. She turned, then stopped and looked back. "That's okay with you, right?"

"It's fine," Zexion muttered.

"One hour tops."

"Take your time," he snapped, trying to hide his frustration. She didn't need to worry about leaving him alone for one hour, even if she was in the apartment with him. Yoko shuffled away to the back bedroom and shut the door. The house returned to quiet, expect for Spongebob and Patrick trying to sell chocolate. Zexion changed positions and slipped through the stations again. Maybe watching Spongebob would have been more fun if Demyx was there…

He rubbed the side of his forehead. No, he didn't need to think about Demyx. He was passed that, over it, and no longer grieving. His mother still insisted in keeping him in the group just for a little longer. Then he could be free of everything.

Demyx was gone, dead. He was six feet under in a cemetery far, far away. (Not that far actually.) and he had died from stomach cancer so long ago. The end. There wasn't anything else to it. Squint and look closer, between the lines. You would finally be able to read out all of the details. You would find out Demyx's mother committed suicide two months after her son's death, and his father had become an alcoholic, turning to the bottle after both his wife and son's deaths.

Not all fairy tales ended happily.

Lucky for him, his stomach rumbled. He stood and walked back to the small kitchen, squeezing in between the freezer and the refrigerator to get to the cabinet. He pulled out a sack of chips (Barbecue.) sat back down on the couch and opened them. A few of the chips flew out, scattering across the ground. Zexion sighed, reached down to pick them up and tossed them to the trash can. One of the chips landed safely in the garbage, while the other three landed around it.

Zexion knew he had terrible aim. That was why he never even bothered to try out for sports.

Eating got his mind off of everything else. Oh, and he had homework that he needed to get done. Therefore, he was set to go for the rest of the night.

A night that he hoped he could go without hearing Demyx's soft, gentle voice in his ears.

* * *

**Sorry~ it's kinda been a while since I updated this and well, everything else. I'll try to get some things updated tonight. **

**Yoko is an OC. Sorry, I usually don't write them anymore but I couldn't really think up anyone else to be Zexion's mother. She's just a minor character, so please forgive me if you don't like Ocs. **

**KHWriter . Com : Thank you. I wanted Riku and Kairi's relationship to still be happy even without Sora there. And thank you, school gets in the way of everything. I'll try to update whenever I can. **

**DiveintoHeart : Thanks. ;) It was fun to actually write real happiness instead of fake happiness. **


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